


One Shot: The Four Sword

by Annavanpie



Series: Linked Universe One Shots [2]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 00:36:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19878703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annavanpie/pseuds/Annavanpie
Summary: When you sit down to write a crack fic about Four being afraid of green peppers and somehow you end up writing an angst fic delving into Four's psyche and what it is that sword did to him.How the heck did this happen.





	One Shot: The Four Sword

**Author's Note:**

> The end notes are longer than the fic itself. Have fun.

The campsite was silent. A group of nine sat around the fire pit. Some were making busy doing various things. Sky was wood carving. Four was sharpening his blade. Warriors was picking dirt and leaves out of his scarf. Legend was reading a large green book. Others in the group were staring at the fire, or out at the night sky.

No one spoke. There was peace in the air. 

Until there wasn't.

"Anyone wanna chat?" Wind suddenly asked. His voice caused several in the group to jump, startled. Wind didn't seem to notice, "It's way too quiet around here."

Warriors put down his scarf, "Sure, Wind, what do you wanna chat about?" He smirked.

"I dunno," Wind said, unhelpfully, "We could talk about anything."

"Or we could talk about nothing? I much prefered the silence. Easier to focus," Legend said, gesturing to his book.

"What'cha reading, Legend?" Hyrule spoke up from his seat at the base of the log. He had been drawing, but was now setting down his sketchbook to focus on the group.

Legend rolled his eyes dismissively, "It's called the Book of Mudora. It contains many old texts and ancient manuscripts."

"Sounds boring," Wind said.

"It is," Legend replied.

"Why would you read something if you didn't enjoy it?" Sky was now getting in on the conversation.

"I never said I didn't enjoy it. I happen to _like_ being bored out of my mind, thank you very much. This book contains old legends about ancient heroes. I'm trying to learn more about them, although a lot of it is difficult to understand. The translations are strange in certain places."

"Oh, you think we're in there?" Wind bounced up and down in his chair, elbowing Time excitedly, "Is there a story about me?"

"Not likely, seeing as it doesn't seem like you and I are even in the same timeline," Legend smirked, "Four's in here, though."

Four looked up at the sound of his name, "I am?" He sounded nervous.

"I think so. Unless there's another hero of the four sword. It could be poorly translated, though."

Four stood up and walked over, "Let me see that," he snatched the book out of Legend's hands and began skimming through the text. He frowned, "Wow, this is really hard to read. Whoever wrote this had terrible handwriting. And their grammar is awful."

"Well, you can't expect every text saved from centuries past to be a masterpiece," Legend said defensively, "Is it true, though?"

"Is what true?" Four asked.

"The text said whoever wields the Four Sword will have their body shattered, like glass," Legend frowned, inquizically.

Four almost laughed, "Yeah, no. Must be a mistranslation," he gave the book back to Legend, "So you were reading up on me to figure out what my sword does, then? That's rather intrusive, don't you think, Legend?" He turned and walked back to his seat.

"Hey, you can't blame a guy for being curious," he paused, "Actually, that's not the first I've heard of the four sword in my time."

Four whirled around, then slowed himself down, "Oh?" He said calmly.

"I found a temple once, guarded by a sly fox. He called it the Palace of the Four Sword. Wouldn't let me in, though. Not even after I payed him."

Four laughed, "That sounds like a story right out of a fantasy novel," he looked relieved.

"That is basically my life," Legend said, "You gonna tell me what I missed?"

"Probably nothing but trouble." That was all Four said on the matter.

Legend frowned.

Four sat down. He closed he eyes, relaxing himself. Voices began flooding his mind as he fell apart on the inside. 

_Still think we shouldn't tell them?_ Red was the one who said that.

 _No,_ Blue said quickly.

 _'No,' we shouldn't tell them, or 'No,' you think we should now?_ Red asked.

 _What do you think?_ Blue said sarcastically, _They wouldn't understand._

 _You don't know that. Legend seems really interested. I feel bad for keeping it a secret,_ Red urged.

 _All the more reason to keep it a secret._ That was Green, _They'll find out when it becomes important._

 _I guess,_ Red grumbled, _Lucky about the book being wrong, then._

 _It wasn't entirely wrong,_ Vio spoke for the first time, _We were shattered, in a sense. Just, it was our soul, not our body._

 _Cheery,_ Blue said. Silence filled their head.

 _You guys,_ Red spoke up, _You ever miss, you know, being one person? Being whole, I mean?_

There was another pause. Four's mind merged once more to form one solid thought, _Every day._

Meanwhile, Legend was staring at Four's sword, the book limp in his lap. His mind thought back to the palace. The one he had lied to Four about exploring. The one where he had found four swords, one blue, one green, one red, and one purple. The one where he had fought four dark spirits that resided in those swords. The spirits that bared a resemblance to a certain...

Those spirits would have killed Legend if he hadn't happened to have a fairy on him. 

What did that sword do to Four?

**Author's Note:**

> Some Zelda trivia because it's nice to learn
> 
> The Book of Mudora is an item in A Link to the Past that can be found in the Kakariko Village library. Link (Legend) uses it to translate an ancient hylian language for various tasks he has to complete in Hyrule. I took some liberties with it, but I imagine the book contains old scripts and tales from ancient Hyrule. Part of that includes the legend of the Four Sword.
> 
> In the intro to Four Swords, Zelda tells Link (Four), "It is said that the body of one who touches this blade will be shattered to pieces." This exposition is all fine and dandy in regular canon since the Link in the this game isn't technically the Link in Minish Cap and therefore there has been enough time for a legend to form around the blade. Not so in LU, where there can only be like a max of two years between Four forging the blade and Vaati escaping his prison forcing Four to wield it and split his soul to pieces. So I decided to put this myth inside the book of Mudora. And while the body does split due to the sword's power, I never saw it as being the thing that shattered. Really, it was Four's soul that was left broken in pieces. His body was able to multiply. 
> 
> Some people view Green as the "original" Four while the others are just copies with different personalities. I don't really view it that way. I think all four of the colored boys are all equal parts Link. No one is the original, they were all present from the beginning. But parts of them were cut off from each other, forming four boys, none of them being wholly Link but all of them being equally Link. I think when they focus and when their minds are in the same place they are able to have a singular stream of thought and be one person again, but that is shakey at best. At worst, none of them can work together and Four's body is a useless mass trying to do four different things at once.
> 
> The Palace of the Four Sword is really neat. It can only be accessed through the GBA LTTP/FS game, and only after beating FS. Which, in that version, you can only play multiplayer on. That was very difficult without friends who were willing to pay for a gameboy, link cable, and copy of the game. Even more difficult to find three friends who were willing to do this with you.
> 
> If you were unfortunate enough not to have friends, then you were stuck with a fox man asking you to pay him and then afterwards telling you only true heroes can enter.
> 
> Surprising that Legend had friends, I know. That's probably why it was easy to get Four to believe he wasn't able to enter the Palace.
> 
> I haven't read the Four Swords manga by Akira Himekawa in years, btw. Don't expect this to follow the canon presented in that one, even though I do use the "personalities" presented in that.
> 
> Oh, and if you're wondering about the green peppers thing in the summary, there's some minish cap character art from the manga (same author) that has a blurb of text "He doesn't think anyone can beat him when it comes to courage, but he's afraid of green peppers." Describing Link (Four).


End file.
